whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like.

A good [short story] would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.

But most good movies have a gun in them.

The message was that if something is free, you should only take the best. If, on the other hand, you're forced to pay, it's best to lower the bar and not be so choosy.

Maybe one day, I would write a story about arguing in public, and those would come in handy in some way.

The Korean man nodded, the way you do when you’re a foreigner and understand that someone has finished a sentence.

I always knew I wanted it to be illustrated.